The government of Venezuela says President
Hugo Chavez
will not be able to attend his scheduled swearing-in this week, confirming suspicions the leader’s illness will keep him in a Cuban hospital past the key date.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro broke the news in a letter to National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello on Tuesday. He said that on the recommendation of Mr Chavez’s medical team, his recovery “should be extended beyond January 10" and for that reason he will not be able to attend the scheduled inauguration.

Mr Maduro said Mr Chavez was invoking a provision in the constitution allowing him to be sworn in before the Supreme Court at a “later date". Mr Cabello announced he had received the request during a legislative session.

Tensions between the government and the opposition have been building in a constitutional dispute over whether the ailing President’s swearing-in can legally be postponed. Mr Chavez had cancer-related surgery in Cuba last month and has not spoken publicly in a month.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said earlier that the President’s current term would end constitutionally today and that the Supreme Court should rule on the matter.

Other opposition leaders have argued that the inauguration cannot legally be put off and the National Assembly president should take over as interim president if Mr Chavez has not returned from Cuba by inauguration day.

“The Supreme Court has to take a position on what the text of the constitution says," said Mr Capriles, who lost to Mr Chavez in presidential elections three months ago.

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However, Mr Capriles said he saw no reason to bring a formal challenge to the Supreme Court because it was obliged to issue a ruling on the dispute.

While leaders of both pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez camps said they do not expect violence to break out, the dispute could lead to questions about the legitimacy of officials serving past the scheduled inauguration date.

The constitution says the presidential oath should be taken before members of the National Assembly on January 10 but adds that the President may also take the oath before the Supreme Court if he is unable to be sworn in before the assembly.

Officials argue that clause does not explicitly mention a date, although opponents say it clearly refers to the January 10 deadline.

Mr Maduro has called the swearing-in a “formality" and said the opposition has erroneously interpreted the constitution. Mr Chavez has said that if he is unable to continue as President, Mr Maduro should take his place and run in an election to replace him.

But Mr Capriles said Mr Maduro “wasn’t elected" to continue leading a government in Mr Chavez’s absence into a new term. He said he had spoken with members of the military, and that they had told him “we are with the constitution".